The "Strangers"....... What we wish we didn't know

You know it is close to the end of October when the weirdos start coming out of the woodwork.......Wait that happened in June......They started early.

The building that my office is in, is an apartment building for seniors and people with disabilities......Sometimes these two "traits" coincide... There is one resident who happens to fall into both categories....She needs an "aid" to help her.....(I use aid loosely...As you will read, we wonder who is actually being "aided" in the arrangement).

There are two people who are contract workers at the apartment building. One contracted to aid residents through Hennepin County and the other "aid" contracted privately by one residents daughter. The first aid contracted through the county is a wonderful person. She cares for 3 residents and they love her. She cooks for them, cleans for them and is a very intergral part of their lives. The privately contracted "aid" is anything but wonderful. In fact he is a letch. Yuck, gross and get away from me, spring to mind.

This person cares for (using "cares for" lightly) a frail older woman who seems to suffer from dementia (a condition of deteriorated mentality) and had previously broken her hip but has been recovering for several months. This person doing the caring has recently been bestowed a new label of which he has no awareness. We call him..... The banger.....Fitting and disgusting.

A little about the apartments themselves. They are all equipped with 2 emergency pull cords should a resident ever find themselves in need of assistance. The pull cords are located in the bedroom and the bathroom. Once activated, an alarm will sound outside my office. It will indicate which apartment activated the alarm and in what area the alarm was triggered. The proper authorities are called immediately to respond to a potential emergency at the apartment.

A couple weeks ago the bedroom pull cord was activated in the unit where the "banger" was working with the frail older woman. The police arrived promptly and went immediately to this apartment. They stood outside the door knocking and ringing the doorbell for approximately 10 minutes. The maintenance man Jado was called to open the door so they could gain access and assess the emergency. At the same time Jado arrived to open the door, the "banger" opens it. He is disheveled to say the least. Tucking in his shirt, adjusting his glasses, smoothing his hair out of his face and just obviously looking quite guilty about something. The "banger" is asked by the police officer if everything is ok, he responds that everything is fine. The officer asks why it took him so long to answer the door, he replies that he did not hear the knocking or the doorbell. The officer tells the "banger" that the pull cord in the bedroom was activated indicating an emergency. The "banger" responds by telling the Officer that he was giving his "patient" a therapeutic massage and that it was pulled by accident. Ok....Raise your hand if you believe that one........NOT.

Not even a week later, I had sent out a notice to all residents explaining that we would be in every unit to do some work on items that were not finished with the rehab. They receive 24 hour notice so they won't be surprised by our entry into their apartments. Apparently someone did not read their notice....

Jado was assisting the contractor in finishing up the little details left behind from the rehab. He was helping the contractor out by letting him into apartments where no one seemed to be home. They arrived at the apartment where the "banger" works and knocked on the door as well as rang the doorbell. No one answers. They give it another minute or two and then Jado opens the door.......Well wouldn't ya know, the "banger" is scurrying out of the bedroom trying desperately to get his pants up...Oh My! He manages the task of pulling his pants up and closes the bedroom door behind him.....hmmm. He asks why they are there. He is told why and does not argue but is clearly unprepared for their entrance into the apartment at what seems to be a very inconvenient time. This man has no morality what so ever.....If he does, he left it in a shoe box at the last train station he was dropped off at.

My dilemma.....Although this aid seems to be taking fairly good care of the woman he has been contracted to care for, he is also taking more than what is morally acceptable, hence we call him the "banger". I do not know, not having witnessed this first hand, what my position as building manager would allow me to say. Do I tell the daughter and risk her angst or do I let it go and the chips fall where they may? This is my rhetorical question.....one that has no answer that would be correct...it is all grey......and very strange. The weirdos have landed.....or at least one...and he is already dressed for trick or treating....watch out...you don't want to see his tricks.....Really NO! Don't even go there.....Scarier that any horror flick...yeap that's the BangHer......lol